This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this Application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The present disclosure relates generally to a refrigeration system primarily using carbon dioxide (i.e., CO2) as a refrigerant. The present disclosure relates more particularly to a CO2 refrigeration system for supermarkets or like facilities, the refrigeration system having a flexible module that provides cooling for air conditioning (“AC”) loads of the facility. The present disclosure relates more particularly to an AC module having an evaporator (e.g., an AC chiller, a fan-coil unit, etc.) to receive the CO2 refrigerant and a compressor operating in parallel with compressors of the CO2 refrigeration system.
Refrigeration systems that provide cooling to temperature controlled display devices (e.g. cases, merchandisers, etc.) in supermarkets or similar facilities typically operate independently from air conditioning systems used to cool the facilities during warm or humid weather (e.g. in warmer climates, during daily or seasonal temperature variations, etc.). Further, such refrigeration systems and air conditioning systems are typically not integrated in a manner that increases the efficiency of the system(s) or that provides flexible modularity in the way that the systems are integrated.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a CO2 refrigeration system having a flexible module for integrating the cooling of air conditioning loads in a manner that increases the efficiency of the systems.